The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

[Maple]

This is one of my father's favorite books. I have read it before but figured this was a great excuse to reread it. I love Tolkien's work and his beautiful descriptions.

[Brittany (tinsel hoarding bookdragon)]

I read this book for an earlier week for the first time and absolutely loved it!

[Maple]

I finished this one today. It's been several years since I've read it, but it's still as it was when I was in high school. It's funny to go back and read them after seeing all of the movies, and seeing the little differences they tweaked to make the three films. The Hobbit can be a bit slow in places, but it's well worth it in the end!

As a semi-related plug: If you haven't seen the animated Hobbit film from the 1970s, you should check it out. It's classic Rankin & Bass animation and is a delightful abridged version of the book.

[Marina]

I read this just before Christmas, and I loved it. I have always had an idea that Tolkien's books wasn't for me, but I was really surprised about just how much I enjoyed it.

I hadn't read it before, but my husband had the movies on his wishlist, so I bought the two first movies for him, but wanted to read the book before watching them. In my opinion the book is way better than the movies. We had actually planned to go see the last movie in the cinema, but because the movies didn't live up to our expectations we decided to wait and see it when it comes on DVD.
Honestly I don't understand why you would take a book that's only about 300-350 pages and make it into three movies of almost three hours each. Of course I know why: Money!! But I think it's dumb.

[Sophie]

I agree with you Marina, we are often frustrated because they have to cut out parts of books to fit into one movie, but with The Hobbit they added so much material it's ridiculous! Ok, some are interesting to maybe understand more about what's happening in LOTR (like the part with Sauron, which is totally absent from the book), but still, it is so obvious they made all this for money that it takes the pleasure away. And I was really disappointed by the end of the last movie, it feels rushed out while some parts are quite lenghty.

Sorry about this, I know we're supposed to talk about the book, but I couldn't resist. ;)

[Heather]

When I first asked my dad to give me a book recommendation he immediately said 'well, the Hobbit is my favorite book'. Which is why he got me to read it in 6th grade and thus began my love affair with J.R.R.Tolkien. But I wanted to try to read more new books this year so I went with his second pick, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. But anyway high five to everyone whose dad/mom encouraged them to read Tolkien - they are the best parents :D